STEP EIGHT

Made a List of All persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

First we take a look backward and try to discover where we have been at fault; next we make a vigorous attempt to repair the damage we have done. So that we may develop the best possible relations with every human being we know. Finally we should learn how to live in peace, partnership and brotherhood with all men and women. The reopening of the emotional wounds, which has been forgotten, and some still painfully festering are the big problems.

The first and the most difficult things to do are with forgiveness. The other things are that our drinking behavior had aggravated the defects of others. The first difficulty is face-to-face admission of our wretched conduct. There are some examples of forgotten involving the conspiration of fear and pride. The end result is the purposeful forgetting. What kind of harm we are talking about? This could involve as a result of instinctive collision, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual damage to people. We must not exaggerate our defects or theirs. A quite, objective view will be our steadfast aim. It is the beginning of the end of isolation from our fellows and from God.

It is idle for us to try to be in touch with God or keep in touch with Him, so long as there are human relationships, which must be righted at the same time.” Nothing is clearer in the gospels than the direct teaching that our relation to God cannot be right unless our relations with men are as right as we can make them".

Your Mission–Should You Choose to Accept It?

If our spiritual history is to be meaningful for you, there is work to do. That history enables those who care about it to avoid the pitfalls of making up their own program, their own religion, and their own recovery through the Twelve Steps. You don’t just "take" the Steps. You "study" them. You come to "understand" them. And you endeavor to "apply" them with reflection by working these steps from the heart.

Many of the B.B. quotes will have no meaning for you if you don’t open and study the Big Book. A strong inclination to “keep it simple,” “just goes to meetings," and not "think" has often superseded the work that needs to accompany our program.

Under this step we will make a “written list” of those we have harmed. We ask God to let his will be done, not our will, and ask for the strength and courage to become willing to forget resentments and false pride and make amends to those we have harmed. We must not do this step grudgingly, or as an unpleasant task to be rid of quickly. We must do it wittingly, fairly, and humbly with out condescension.